ABSTRACT

Major event organisers apply for government financial support. This paper investigates the selection process of events in Norway based on empirical data from 2012 to 2018. In this period, 11 events were granted NOK 476 million (€47.7 million), whereas five events were rejected. The funding was highly concentrated, with 92% being distributed to four events. Although the Norwegian government positively supports major events, a policy on event selection has not been established. This paper shows that the absence of criteria for event selection opens up pragmatism, which encourages lobbying and ad hoc solutions. All the applicants argued that their events would generate economic gains and various forms of externalities. The most successful applicants associated themselves with politicians who lobbied on their behalf. Politicians and event organisers were closely related in these cases. Some events successfully connected their own aims with aims in the government’s political programme. Three events that received the most government support also received additional funding when unexpected problems emerged during the preparations. In these cases, the fear of cancelation created situations of urgency that helped the applicants receive additional funding. Cancelation of the events would have created a loss of prestige, not only for the organiser but a number of other stakeholders.

摘要

大型活动组织者申请政府财政支持。本文基于2012年至2018年的经验数据，对挪威的赛事选择过程进行了调查。在此期间，授予了11项赛事的奖励为4.76亿挪威克朗（4770万欧元），而拒绝了5项赛事。资金高度集中，其中92％被分配给四个活动。尽管挪威政府积极支持重大事件，但尚未建立有关事件选择的政策。本文表明，事件选择标准的缺乏开启了实用主义，这鼓励了游说和临时解决方案。所有申请人都争辩说，他们的事件将产生经济收益和各种形式的外部性。最成功的申请人与代表他们游说的政治家联系起来。在这些情况下，政客和活动组织者密切相关。一些事件成功地将自己的目标与政府的政治计划中的目标联系在一起。在筹备过程中出现意外问题时，获得政府最多支持的三项活动也获得了额外的资助。在这些情况下，由于担心取消而造成了紧急情况，从而帮助申请人获得了额外的资金。事件的取消不仅会给组织者带来声誉，也会给其他利益相关者带来损失。在这些情况下，由于担心取消而造成了紧急情况，从而帮助申请人获得了额外的资金。事件的取消不仅会给组织者带来声誉，也会给其他利益相关者带来损失。在这些情况下，由于担心取消而造成了紧急情况，从而帮助申请人获得了额外的资金。事件的取消不仅会给组织者带来声誉，也会给其他利益相关者带来损失。